US to make 30,000 more visas available for seasonal workers

The Trump administration plans to allow 30,000 more foreign workers temporarily into the United States for seasonal work through the end of September, a move that reflects how the booming economy has complicated President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict legal immigration.

Details of the plan were in a draft rule obtained by TheAssociated Press. It would benefit oyster shucking companies, fisheries,loggers and seasonal hotels, including Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago club — all ofwhich use the visas to hire migrants for temporary work they say Americanswon’t do.

   

The visas, known as H-2Bs, will be granted only to returningforeign workers who have had the visa before, over the last three fiscal years.Many of the visa holders return to the same employers year after year. Thoseworkers have already been vetted and are trusted and not likely to stay pasttheir visa, officials said.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin takingapplications from employers on behalf of the workers once the temporary rule ispublished in the Federal Register, expected on Wednesday.

The strong economy has made it increasingly difficult foremployers to find labor, and the number of seasonal visas has been capped at66,000 per fiscal year — a figure some businesses and lawmakers say is badlyoutdated, especially when the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in 49years.

Employers have argued that they desperately need morelabour, pitting businesses against those both inside and outside of the WhiteHouse who say the visas take away American jobs. Trump has also benefitedpersonally from both seasonal workers and people working in the countryillegally at his golf clubs.

Within the White House, there are some, like adviser StephenMiller, who seek to restrict legal immigration, including reducing visas forhigh-skilled workers and suspending or limiting entry to the US for individualsfrom countries with high rates of short-term visa overstays.

Meanwhile, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been workingon his own immigration overhaul package for months, meeting with lawmakers andinterest groups, trying to put together legal immigration and border securitychanges that Republicans can rally around heading into the 2020 presidentialelection.

Trump had once railed against legal immigration, arguing —despite conflicting evidence — that foreigners hurt American workers bycompeting for jobs and driving down wages. But Trump has recently changed histune, saying he’s now in favour of more legal immigration because of economicgains on his watch.

Trump announced the change during his State of the Unionspeech, when he said he wanted people “to come into our country in thelargest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.”

The debate has played out in Congress, too, with twobipartisan groups sending letters to Homeland Security, one urging an increasein the number of temporary visas and one expressing concern over a possibleincrease.

Homeland Security and Labour Department officials said thedecision to allocate the visas was based in part on the fact some businessescould face irreparable harm if they can’t employ the workers.

The two departments have jointly decided to raise the capduring the past two fiscal years, but it was only 15,000 more in those years.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan saidMonday the additional visas were a temporary fix.

“The Department of Homeland Security continues to urgelawmakers to pursue a long-term legislative fix that both meets employers’temporary needs while fulfilling the president’s Buy American and Hire Americanexecutive order to spur higher wages and employment rates for US workers,”McAleenan said.

According to the most recent data from US Citizenship andImmigration Services on visa approvals, half of the visas went to horticulturaland agricultural workers. Food service, forestry and logging work and fisher,hunter trappers made up the bulk of the rest of the 2017 visas.

Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, andindependent Angus King of Maine, along with Reps. Andy Harris, R-Md., andChellie Pingree, D-Maine, and about 25 other bipartisan lawmakers in the Houseand Senate, sent a letter to Homeland Security this year saying they wereworking on a solution for the visa cap, but until then the increase was badlyneeded.

But a separate group of bipartisan senators, includingDemocrat Dick Durbin of Illinois and Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, wrote lastmonth they were concerned the visas enabled worker exploitation and fosteredhuman trafficking and debt bondage because of the fees associated with thevisas.”Americans working alongside H-2B visaholders can find it difficult to compel employers to abide by federal and statelabor and employment laws,” the senators wrote.

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